


Gang of Nerds

by Ripplebreeze



Category: Silicon Valley (TV), The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton
Genre: Gang AU, Gen, Outsiders AU, erlich looks after everyone, gilfoyle is there for the free beer, richard needs help
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-26 09:30:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10784112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ripplebreeze/pseuds/Ripplebreeze
Summary: There was a recent photoshoot done with the cast of SV and I found out that the theme was the Outsiders! I love that book and I thought why not write it!Honestly, I did this really quickly so it's probably messy but hey, I had fun.Enjoy!





	Gang of Nerds

Richard likes to think he’s a perfectly transcendent person. People’s eyes pass over him, nobody paid attention to his weird facial features and awkward demeanor. They all just said, “Richard? Oh yeah...I don’t really notice him...”

That’s what Richard would like, but he doesn’t often get what he wants.

So when Richard is shoved up against a locker, his feet dangling in the air as Brian sneers in his face, he tries not to be surprised. What made him think that being in high school would change anything? He’s still Richard Hendricks, a magnet for bullies. Though it’s always been the kids from poor households who pick on him because they think he has lots of money. Sure, he wasn’t from a family living in a shoebox apartment, but he wasn’t exactly Robert W. Woodruff.

Now, he’s getting punched in the stomach by Brian, a kid who lives on the richer side of town. The West Side, everyone called it. Richard suspected that because he lived on the East Side, he was now gonna get severely picked on by half of the school.

Great. Richard wasn’t even doing anything particularly dorky, and he was still being assaulted daily. Richard loves high school.

“This is too easy,” Brian muttered as he dropped Richard on the ground. “Most Greasers at least put up a fight…”

“I’m-ah...I’m not a Greaser.” Brian chuckled.

“You’re from the East Side. You’re just not a good Greaser.” Richard felt a swift kick on his side before Brian turned away, still laughing. Richard sighed and started gathering his scattered books and papers.

“Hey, kid.” Richard looked up and saw a larger boy towering over him. Richard scooched back, wincing when his back hit the lockers.

“Y-yes?”

“You getting picked on by that asshole?” The larger boy held his hand out to help Richard up.

“I-it’s no big deal, really-”

“Socs are the worst thing to happen to the good people of the world.” The boy ran his hand through his thick mop of curly hair. He was wearing jeans and a leather jacket that looked like it’d practically be a blanket on Richard.

“W-well I-I wouldn’t go that far-”

“No, I know I’m right.” Huh. So he’s confident.

“Oh…”

“Erlich Bachman, resident head-Greaser.” He stuck his hand out to shake and Richard took it slowly, unsure of Erlich’s intentions. Erlich looked at his hand when they were done, slightly bemused. “You need a better handshake. We’ll work on that later.”

“Huh?”

“What’s your name?”

“Richard.”

“Okay, Richard. You’re clearly struggling here. I’ve watched you for the past week. You’re being beaten up by Socs left and right.”

“Wait, you’ve seen me get bullied?”

“Yeah.”

“W-why didn’t you stop them?!”

“I had to see if you were gonna be brave and fight them back. I got tired of waiting. Anyway...I’m taking you under my wing.”

“Huh?”

“You’re gonna be in our group. We’ll teach you how to survive this place.”

“Survive?!”

“Yeah.”

“I can die?!”

“Severely beaten, more like. You’re not in danger of that yet. Now come with me.”

“Yet?!”

\---

It was the end of the school day anyway so Richard decided, against his better judgement, to follow Erlich Bachman. His parents would probably thrilled that he’d made friends and wouldn’t mind his brief absence. 

“You’re gonna love these guys, Richie. They’re good people.”

“Richie?”

“It’s my nickname for you. Now come, Richie.”

“Oh, we’re not supposed to go out that way, it’s a fire exit-” Erlich pushed the door open and waltzed out, ignoring Richard’s concerns. Richard looked behind him to make sure there wasn’t an adult around and he followed. One broken rule wouldn’t hurt.

He caught up to Erlich as they walked across the football field. Richard looked remorsely at his shoes as they got muddy from the grass field. Erlich forged on, seemingly not caring about the mud he was getting on his sneakers. They eventually reached the bleachers and Richard sighed in relief as Erlich stopped walking.

He saw shadows move under the bleachers and he swallowed the lump in his throat. Erlich cleared his throat and they waited. He cleared it louder when no one else appeared. Sighing, Erlich stomped to the side of the bleachers and whistled. Richard winced at the jarring noise.

“What the fuck, man?” An unseen voice drawled.

“Gentlemen, if you would come meet my new protege…” Sighs were heard from beneath the bleachers and Richard pursed his lips. Three boys clambered out and looked at Richard, judging. Except for one, who was smiling already at Richard, seemingly welcoming him already.

They were all dressed in jean clothing. And they all looked fairly intimidating. Richard licked his lips and looked down at his shoes.

“He can’t even look at us.” The voice from before drawled again. Richard bit his lip this time, knowing that the jeers would start here. Erlich had led him into a trap. He should have seen it coming-

“He’s just nervous, that’s all.” A quieter voice piped up. Richard looked up, seeing that it was the boy who had smiled at him before. He was tall, even taller than Erlich. His brown hair was styled with care, opposing his relaxed style of blue plaid and blue jeans. His wide blue eyes studied Richard carefully. “He’s probably not sure what to do.”

“But still…” One of the shorter boys said, his black hair slicked back with grease. Of course, bemused Richard. Of course, they’ll have grease. It’s what makes a Greaser a Greaser. “He can’t look at us. He’d probably keel over if we tried talking directly to him.”

“You make it sound like we need to talk in order to have a good time.”

“Okay, Gilfoyle, most people want to have conversations with their friends. Just because you like moping around in your own inner turmoil doesn’t mean that everyone else does. Fuck it, you’re special. You happy?”

“I don’t consider myself special. Just sensible, unlike you.” Gilfoyle, if that’s that’s what Richard actually heard, replied. He wore a jean shirt with the sleeves torn off and a black t-shirt underneath. His arms had several tattoos and he had black earrings. He looked like a punk, Richard thought. The other boy looked dumbfounded.

“Oh my god.”

“Boys!” Erlich barked at them, making the tall, friendly Greaser snap to attention immediately, his smile disappearing from his face. “Let’s introduce ourselves to Richie here.” Richard pursed his lips at the nickname.

“Richie?” The black-haired boy raised his eyebrow. “That’s your name?”

“It’s-ah, it’s Richard.”

“I’m Dinesh.” The black-haired boy nodded. He was wearing a light-colored jean jacket and jeans that were torn at the knee.

“We call him Pakistani Denzel.” Gilfoyle raised an eyebrow at Erlich.

“You call him that. No one else does.”

“Hey. Gilfoyle. Shut the fuck up.” Gilfoyle rolled his eyes.

“Whatever. I’m Gilfoyle. Call me Gilfoyle.”

“O-okay.” Richard nodded. Gilfoyle shoved his hands into his pockets as the tall boy waved at Richard.

“I’m Jared. Or Donald. I like the nickname Jared, but call me what you’d like.”

“Okay, Jared.” Jared’s eyes lit up with shock and then happiness. Richard made a mental note to learn more about that guy. He was odd, yet he wasn’t exactly the stereotypical Greaser.

“There are many other Greasers but we’re the main group. We’re gonna teach you how to be one of us. You from the East Side?”

“Yes.”

“Walk with us.”

“Uh, where are we going, Erlich?”

“To mine and Jared’s house. No more questions, PD.”

\---

They share a house? Richard looked at Jared and Erlich as they led the way to the East Side. Gilfoyle and Dinesh were discussing music. It wasn’t really a discussion, more like Dinesh ranting about popular music of today and Gilfoyle grunting in response.

Erlich put his arm around Jared as they passed one house in particular and Jared smiled gratefully at him. What?

They eventually approached a house on the dead-end. Only a few blocks away from the school, it was hidden among bushes and dead trees scattered in the front yard. Jared turned and looked apologetically at Richard.

“It’s not the prettiest house and it’ll be a bit of a mess inside. I apologize for it all.”

“It’s not your fault, Jay. In fact, this’ll be perfect for Richie’s training.” Erlich surveyed the yard carefully and he stared at Richard critically.

“Y-yeah, it’s just cool that you guys have your own house.” Jared perked up and the smile returned.

“Indeed. Now, come in, boys.” Erlich pushed open a wooden door that had peeling green paint. Richard was the last person to enter, still looking around at the yard.

The inside was slightly messy, as Jared had warned. Next to the front door was a bedroom, cluttered with various items and an unmade bed. To the left, a living room with a moth-bitten, light blue couch and a tiny television. The coffee table had a small plant on it, along with several beer bottles scattered around it. It wasn’t that bad of a setup, really.

“Here, Richie. Sit.” Erlich pointed to an empty spot on the couch, next to him. Richard squeezed himself between Erlich and Dinesh. He hoped he discomfort wasn’t obvious.

“Would you like some water?” Richard shook his head at Jared and thanked him.

“Okay, I suppose I should ask. What grade are you in?”

“Tenth.”

“So you’re fifteen or sixteen-”

“Ah...no.” Erlich narrowed his eyes.

“What, are you seventeen?”

“N-no, I turned fourteen two weeks ago. I skipped a grade.” Richard rubbed the back of his neck as Erlich nodded.

“Oh, happy birthday!”

“Thank you, Jared.”

“Alright, Richie. I’d like to include you in our group. But I need to test you.”

“Test me?”

“Yes. Jay, will you join me in the kitchen? Gilfoyle too. We need to plan the test.” So Richard was left in the living room with Dinesh.

“I saw you when we were walking here. You looked confused about Jared and Erlich’s living situation.” Richard nodded at Dinesh. “They live together, y’know. Erlich is friends with the landlord of this house so he lives here for little price. Jared also lives on this street. He’s a foster kid, did you know that?”

“N-no. That sucks.”

“Yeah, it does. The foster home Jared was placed in sucks. I don’t even know all of the details. I just know that Jared would show up to school with bruises and he always says the most disturbing shit sometimes. Erlich noticed and took him under his wing. Kind of like you.”

“Oh.”

“Between you and I?” Dinesh leaned forward and dropped his voice to a whisper. “I think that was the wrong move.”

“Wrong move?”

“Sure, Jared was being abused. But at the same time, he shouldn’t be mooching off of Erlich. He really doesn’t do much for us. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“M-mooching?” Richard thought about Jared and how thoughtful he seemed.

“Mooching.”

“Well...I’m not sure I can say much. I’m not very informed about the subject.”

“Even so, you can form an opinion.” Dinesh raised an eyebrow. “You know that Jared is essentially a liability. You can see that, correct?”

“I-I’m not sure about that. If Jared was in a bad spot before, I think he should be allowed to get help.”

“But he offers nothing to us.”

“So? He seems nice. Respectful, y’know? What is he supposed to give you? Friendships shouldn’t be purely strategic ways of moving up in the world, should they?” Dinesh shrugged.

“So you think he’s good.”

“Jared? Yeah...I mean, he seems kind-hearted.”

“You don’t think the foster parents would be angry? You don’t think they should be told about his mooching on Erlich.”

“I’m not sure if he’s mooching. And they probably didn’t care much in the first place about Jared if they...abused him. If they haven’t asked questions yet, they probably don’t care.”

“So you don’t think he’s mooching. You think Jared can hang with us?”

“If he needs help, he needs help. If Erlich wants to help him, that’s his business. It doesn’t concern us.”

Erlich suddenly turned the corner with Jared and Gilfoyle behind him. Erlich had the largest grin on his face as he clapped his large hand on Richard’s shoulder.

“Yes, Richie! You passed the test!”

“W-what?”

“We had to see if you were a decent person. Not some sort of Soc asshole. They all would have felt like Jared owed them something in order to get help. You stood up for what you believed in. We respect that.” Richard stared around at the group who just did a fucking morality test on him to see if he could be a part of their group.

“I’m getting a beer.”

Gilfoyle turned and went back to the kitchen, Richard watching him go with interest.

“Gilfoyle doesn’t really believe in morality. As he puts it, morals are a social construct and overrated,” Jared helpfully informed him. “He insists that he’s only here for the free beer and he’s willing to bear with us for it. But I think he likes us.” Jared smiled as Gilfoyle passed by.

“Keep telling that to yourself, Jared.”

**Author's Note:**

> just so u know, the morality test is something I thought was just the right amount of Extra for any gang run by Erlich. Idk, I might edit that later but for now, it makes me chuckle a bit!
> 
> also, i just really like the idea of Erlich giving Jared a shorter version of his nickname. ignore me, that's just something i find rlly sweet ugh


End file.
